Electric-railway system



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J. H. PENDLETON. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

Patented Oct. 25,1892.

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J. H. PENDLETON. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

No. 484,919. Patentedflot. 25, 1892.

track-railway system.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

JOHN H. PEN DLETON, OF BROOKLYN, NEXV YORK.

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 484,919,date'd. October25, 1892.

Application filed August 1, 1891.

To all whom it may concern:

l 3e it known that I, J oHNH. PENDLnToN,a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of NewYork,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-RailwaySystems, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to improvements in electric-railway systems,and espeorally to those in which the working conductor is divided into anumber of comparativelyshort sections and the circuit is closed onlythrough the particular sections upon which cars are running.

My invention has for its objects to simplify the construction of suchsystems, to render the same more certain in operation, to permit thecircuits to be closed by hand in case of' failure of the circuit-closingdevices to operate automatically, and finally to render the systemperfectly safe by so constructing the same that upon breakage of any oneof the several sections said section is cut out of the circuit and madeharmless.

With these objects in view my invention consists, essentially, in anelectric-railway system combining in its structure a supplyconductor, asectional working conductor, interposed energizing sections, a primarybranch wire for each section of the working conductor, leading from thesupply-conductor and including an electro-magnet, and a secondary branchwire for each energizing-section, leading from the main branch wire tothe energizing-section, the one coil of the electro-magnet beingincluded in both branch cir-' cuits, all of which is more fully pointedout in the following 's pecification and claims and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and diagrams, in which Figure 1 represents,diagrammatically, the devices and circuits as arranged for a double-Fig. 1 is an elevation of a modified form of electro-magnet. Figs. 2 and3 are details drawn to a larger scale than Fig. 1. Fig. 4 represents,diagrammatically, the devices and circuits as arranged for asingle-track system. Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 are diagrams illustrating theoperation of the system shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 9 is a sectional elevationillustrating the arrangement of the switch-boxes with an undergroundsupply- Serial No. 401,411. (No model.)

conductor. Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the same, drawn to a smallerscale. Fig. 11 is a similar view showing an overhead supply-conductor.Fig. 12 is a face view of the switchboX, showing a modification in thedetails of the switch-magnets. Figs. 13 and 14 are detail views.

. Similar letters and figures indicate corresponding parts. 7

. In the drawings and diagrams, referring at present to Fig. 1, theletter A designates the car running on suitable rails; B, its motor; D,the dynamo at the power-station, and O the supply-conductor. In thisexample one pole of the dynamo is grounded, as at a, and the end of thesupply-conductor similarly grounded, as at b, a suit-able "resistance Rbeing placed in the supply-conductor. If desired, one of the rails mayform the returnconductor 0', as shown in Fig. 4.

j E is the Working conductor, divided into a number ofcomparatively-short sections 1 2 3, 850., between the separated ends ofwhich are interposed short pieces of wire or plates 6 e 6 850., which,however, are not in contact with the working sections. These'shortpieces I shallhereinafter term the energizing-sections.

The several sections 1 2 3, &c., of the working conductor are connectedwith the supplyconductor O by a series of primary branch wires, eachwire composed of the two parts 10 11 12 13, &c. In each of these primarybranch wires is included an electro-magnet, as M M M &c., the armaturesn of which are held retracted by suitable springs, the whole being soarranged that the current from the supply-conductor 0 cannot enter anysection until the respective armature is first attracted by thevitalization of the electro-maguet of said section, which vitalizationis effected by secondary branch wires 16 17 18, &c., connected with theenergizing-plates e e 6 &c., and with the primary branches at such apoint that the circuits established in said secondary branches must passthrough the coils of the electro-magnets.

The car is provided with any suitable collector running in contact withthe working conductor-for instance, the trolley 25, which to preventsparking may be provided with a rearwardly-extending brush t or asecondary ICO trailing wheel. To the same end the energizingsections e e6 820., may be arranged in different vertical planes from the workingsections and caused to overlap the same, as seen in Figs. 2, 3, 13, and14.

The operation of the system is now as follows: Normally in virtue of theretracted armatures n of the electro-magnets M M M the several workingsections are dead; buton contact of the trolley with one of theenergizing-sections-say e-the circuit from the dynamo is closed throughsu pply-conductor 0, wire 10, coil of electro-magnet M, Wire16,energizing-section e, trolleyt to the motor and back to the dynamo,thereby energizing the electro-magnet M and causing its armature to beattracted to close the circuit through the primary branch wiresconnected therewith. The car now entering section 2 of the workingconductor, the current passes over wire 10, lower end of the core ofelectro-magnet M, armature n, wire 11, section 2 to the motor and backto the dynamo. When the car leaves section 2, the circuit is broken andthe armature n is released, the section 2 being then dead.

In the example illustrated in Fig. 1 the end of the coil of eachelectro-magnet is secured to the end of the core, and in practice I havefound it desirable to secure to the end of the core a small piece d, ofbrass or similar material,which forms a good conductor and at the sametime permits the armature n to be promptly released on the breaking ofthe cir cuit. It is evident, however, that the piece could be secured tothe armature or omitted and the motion of the armature arrested beforeit comes into contact with the core of the electro-magnet.

In Fig. 1 I have shown an ordinary hinged armature N, to which the wire11, leading to the working section, is attached. The wire 10 afterencircling the core is branched and one branch 16 made to connect withthe energizin g-plate and the other with the contact-piece o.

For a single-track system, Fig. 4, the devices just described will bethe same in construction, but in duplicate, two energizing-plates beingarranged between the sections of the working conductor and twoelectro-magnets provided, one set operating when the car moves in onedirection and the other when the car moves in the opposite direction. Inthis example I have also shown one of the rails forming thereturn-conductor C.

The operation will be readily understood from Figs. 4 to 8, inclusive,without further explanation.

In practice the electro-magnets and their armatures are inclosed insuitable boxes F, provided with locks, said boxes being secured to thepoles G at a height to be readily accessible by the conductor of thecar, so that in case of failure of any particular electro-magnet tooperate automatically the same can be set by the conductor to close thecircuit through the sections ahead. The boxes being numbered, thefailure of any particular magnet can be reported and corrected. (SeeFigs. 9, 10, 11, and 12.) To facilitate the closing of the circuit byhand for the above purpose, the armature, as shown in Fig. 9, may becarried by a springarm and arranged across the path of a spring-pressedstud f, provided with a suitable head, or, as shown in Fig. 12, thearmature may besecured directly to said stud. An additional advantage ofthis arrangement is that in a double-track system the car can be causedto runin case of necessity in a reverse direction by successivelyclosing the circuits by hand.

It is evident that the supply-conductor can be arranged either overhead,as shown in Fig. 11, or underground, as shown in Figs 9. and 10. Theworking conductor, instead of being overhead, may be placed on thesurface, in which latter case the boxes F would be placed in convenientpositions near the track, either above or below the surface.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an electric-railway system, a supplyconductor, a sectional workingconductor, interposedenergizing-sections,aprimarybranch for each sectionof the working conductor, leading from the supply-conductor andincluding an electro-magnet, and a secondary branch for eachenergizing-section, leading from the main branch to theenergizing-section, the coil of the electro-magnet being included inboth branches, substantially as described.

2. In asingle-track electric-railway system, a supply-conductor, asectional working conductor, two adjacent interposed energizingsections,an electro-magnet for each energizing-section, and electricalconnections, substantially as described, whereby the car can be run ineither direction and will cause the circuit to be established in theworking sections, substantially as described.

3. In an electric-railway system, a supplyconductor, a sectional workingconductor, interposed energizing sections, a primary branch for eachsection of the working conductor, leading from the supply-conductorandincluding an electro-magnet located in an accessible position to permitof its armature being operated by hand, and a secondary branch for eachenergizing-section, leading from the main branch to theenergizing-section, the coil of the magnet beingincluded in bothbranches, substantially as described.

4. In an electric-railway system, a supplyconductor, a sectional workingconductor, interposed energizing-sections, an electro-magnet for eachworking section, and wires leading from the conductor to the coils ofsaid electro-magnets and through contacts formed by the same to theworking sections, and wires leading from the ends of the coils andconnected with the respective energizing-sections, substantially asdescribed.

5. In an electric-railway system, a supplyconductor, a sectional workingconductor, in- I In testimony that I claim the foregoing as [O terposedenergizing-sections, and wires leadmyinvention I have signed my name, inpresing from the supply-conductor and coiled ence of two witnesses, this31st day of July, about cores and branched at the opposite ends 1891.

5 of the cores, one set of branches being connected with theenergizing-sections and the other branches through contacts formed byWitnesses: the attraction of the armatures with the work- A. FABER DUFAUR, ing sections, substantially as described. 0. SIMPSON.

JOHN H. PENDLETON.

